microsoft/aspnet - ASP.NET installed on top of IIS.microsoft/iis - basic Windows with IIS installed.These all come in Server Core and Nano Server variants: They are a good option if they get you started with the dependencies you need. There are a growing number of images on Docker Hub which package app frameworks on top of Windows. You don't have to use a base Windows image for your app. If something fails, try again with Server Core. If it all works, put the commands you ran into a Dockerfile. Begin by running an interactive container with docker run -it -rm microsoft/nanoserver powershell and set up your app manually.

Unless you know you need Server Core, you should start with Nano Server. You'll only find that out by testing, but if you do find problems you can just switch to using Server Core. It's easier to distribute, has a smaller attack surface, starts more quickly, and runs more leanly.īeing slimmed down may have problems though - certain Windows APIs just aren't present in Nano Server, so while your app may build into a Docker image it may not run correctly. Nano Server is preferred because it is so drastically slimmed down. I've successfully used Nano Server as the base image for Go, Java and Node.js apps.

MSI installers for apps or dependenciesįor anything else, you should be able to use Nano Server.

For any of the following you need Windows Server Core: Which you use will depend on the application platform, runtime, and installation requirements.

Choose Your Base Imageĭocker images for Windows apps need to be based on microsoft/nanoserver or microsoft/windowsservercore, or on another image based on one of those. Packaging Windows apps as Docker images to run in containers is straightforward - here's the 5-step guide. Lately I've been Dockerizing a variety of Windows apps - from legacy. nerd-dinner - Docker image with an ASP.NET app on Windows Server Core.nats:nanoserver - Docker image with a Go app on Nano Server.kibana:windowsservercore - Docker image with a Node.js app on Windows Server Core.elasticsearch:nanoserver - Docker image with a Java app on Nano Server.openjdk:windowsservercore - Docker image with the Java runtime on Windows Server Core, by Docker Captain Stefan Scherer.Update! For a full walkthrough on Dockerizing Windows apps, check out my book Docker on Windows and my Pluralsight course Modernizing. Windows Server Core runs in Docker which means you can run pretty much any server or console application in Docker. You can run any application in Docker as long as it can be installed and executed unattended, and the base operating system supports the app.

Docker windows base image